Spacetime is Funny
by Keepalive
Summary: A wish, a will and some strange happenings all conspire to pull someone who dosen't belong into a world that could really use some help.
1. Chapter 1

Spacetime is funny. It takes enormous effort and precision to move any significant distance through, but it is the simplest thing in the world to alter the path of something already moving. So, when a summoning was cast into the great dark beyond, even the pitifully weak accidental magic of a miserable child was enough to change its course. And with nary a sound or warning Harry Potter disappeared from the ruins of his home in Godric's Hollow.

Kay'Vathras was frustrated. Her summoning was meant to call forth a being that could be studied to further her understanding of magic beyond her home world. This child, even if it only looked vaguely like her people in body structure it couldn't be more than a child, was not what she had expected. It possessed a power like that of her people, but it was strangely infused into in its body, a product of its immaturity or perhaps just an adaptation of its species. Regardless she collected the unconscious child and resolved to study him as he grew, after all time meant nothing to an immortal Highborne.

It was only a few days later that she determined that the creature was even sentient, that its unpracticed mutterings were a language she had never heard. It didn't matter much, but perhaps she could make it into a nice pet when she had finished learning everything about its magic. She had presumed it was male based on its physiology but that was just a guess from the general similarities between species. Assigning one of her female attendants to bathe and feed her newest project, as it seemed based on the increasing volume of its cries that it was hungry, and it surely smelled awful, she turned her attention back to her summoning circle, what had gone wrong?

He was a curiosity. Once word got out that a new type of being was summoned to Kalimdor, Kay'Vathras showed her newest pet off at every occasion. It helped that over the years he had been taught to speak a civilized tongue and had been properly educated on how to treat his betters. The rate of his development was quite astonishing really, he grew from scarcely the height of her knee to level with her navel in just a few short years. A similar development took Kaldorei twenty years if not more.

There were no real developments with his magical potential, but assuming that his people developed even remotely similarly to hers there wouldn't be any until he reached puberty and his body was changed to be able to channel it. She had her servants take care of him and see to his education, if only to see where the limits of his ability were, and made sure of his devotion to both her and Queen Azshara.

Things continued along this path until one of the priestesses of the moon goddess Elune attended a party to get a look at her pet, curious about him and his strange magic.

* * *

Keeping his head down as he was taught, pets were not allowed to look at their betters directly after all, Ahr'ri was lead by the taciturn and authoritarian Mila to be presented. This was nothing new, ever since he could remember he was being shown off at parties and studied because of his interesting magical potential. He had been specially instructed to comport himself properly in the presence of the priestess, and he knew that punishments for missteps would be harsh. Mila, his least favorite caretaker, was assigned to him tonight to reinforce that fact.

"Be sure to only speak when specifically addressed and to obey every whim of our guest. I'm quite sure you don't need a reminder of what awaits you should you embarrass the mistress." She spoke sternly, accentuating her point with a sharp rap on his head.

Ahr'ri only nodded, knowing that anything else would only draw out the lecture. He had been the target of may such in his upbringing and it was always simplest to agree and assume a meeker posture to indicate submission. It was all he remembered really, growing up in the house of Kay'Vathras, the harsh lessons and difficult assignments that inevitably brought even more difficult when they were completed satisfactorily. He had it beat into him early on that he was different and not to be expected to be treated the same as Kaldorei.

The doors opened with barely a whisper and he prepared himself for more invasive physical and magical observations.

* * *

Tyrande Whisperwind was exasperated and anxious all at once. She had began her training as a priestess of Elune a scant fifty years ago and was noticed quickly as devoted and skilled. She rose through the ranks, by the willingness of her peers to help her more often than not, and was now on the final step of training, her last trial before she was initiated as a fully fledged member of the Sisterhood. The trial was threefold, to hear the will of the goddess, understand that which was being entrusted to her alone, and carry out the will of Elune. The final part of the trial would stretch the remainder of her life, her unique mission for her mistress.

The first step was very straightforward, she opened herself up to the goddess as she had many times before, and her senses were filled as they never had been.

She saw herself on a hill with two other beings, looking out over the burned husk of a great forest. She could only call them beings for they were alien to her, although both obviously intelligent and bipedal. The first was large, perhaps a whole foot taller than her already impressive stature and heavily musclebound. He?, she immediately assumed him as male, had large lower teeth that rose past his lower lip and tightly braided black hair that contrasted sharply with his green skin. She curiously got the sensation that he was both warrior and scholar, wielding both faith and steel. The second figure held her attention much more, because she had a frame of reference for this being. Obviously female with silken robes and hair the color of honey, she gave off the impression of compassion and sharp wit.

They had just accomplished something great, but lost something in turn. She could feel the bittersweet emotions that swept through her future self and was then greeted with the sight of a tree that dwarfed the others around it by a hundred times, but it was a charred wreck with the blackened corpse of something monstrous clinging to it.

Just as abruptly as it began, the vision ended and she almost passed out with the return of her senses. There was much to understand and learn about what she had seen but there was one thing that she was sure she recognized, the female that was on the hill with her closely resembled the being that was the latest amusement of the Highborne.

After a long session of meditation and research she decided that she needed to meet this new being, to perhaps get some understanding of what she saw. The hardest part of the whole trial was that she was not allowed to get counseling from any of her superiors about the content of her visions, to better prepare her to act independently on the will of the goddess in the future, so she was effectively flying solo.

Making contact with the being was simple, the one whom had acquired him was a notorious social climber, that would and had do anything to raise her own standing in the eyes of the court and most importantly, the Queen. Such interest in her acquisition by the priestesses would only serve to raise the perceived value of this person, and Kay'Vathras as their host.

She was currently waiting in an ostentatiously appointed sitting room while waiting, and was suddenly anxious about what she had seen. Was this new person the key to her visions?

The doors whispered open and she turned to see a stiff looking Kaldorei woman ushering in who she had learned was called Ahr'ri.


	2. Chapter 2

He was a child. She hadn't been expecting a child, but then she had no real idea of what she was walking into as she hardly kept up with court gossip. From what cursory research she had done she knew he could at least speak Kaldorei and had been hosted in the house of Kay'Vathras for scarcely ten years, but she had been expecting a fully grown person.

Courtesies were exchanged between herself and his caretaker, before she gently but deliberately dismissed the other woman. Turning her eyes to Ahr'ri, she saw he was devotedly looking at his own feet and was tensed as if expecting some punishment. Taking a deep breath to calm her own nerves, she began speaking.

"My name is Tyrande Whisperwind, I am training to be a member of the Sisterhood of Elune. What is your name?" She started off, maybe a bit formal but then again she had no idea how fast his species might develop.

"Ahr'ri, servant to the house of Kay'Vathras." The rote reply came easily to his lips, they usually started with simple questions and proceeded to more invasive things once they were comfortable with his subservience.

Tyrande frowned at the stiff and practiced reply, and knew she needed to get him to relax if she were to get anything useful from him willingly.

"Raise your eyes, Ahr'ri." This was unexpected but not the first time the visitors had tested his training.

"Proper servants may not look upon their betters." There an easy statement that usually got them to stop pretending that they saw him as a person.

"Then look at me as an equal as I am also a servant, to Elune." His posture faltered at this, incredulity at her statement mixed with the hope that maybe she wasn't lying like all the rest had. He had been taught about the Moon Goddess and her following after all and the stories all painted them as compassionate. His good sense warred with his hope but in the end the chance at some positive contact with another person, even just to meet their eyes, was too alluring to resist.

He slowly raised his head from his hunched pose and as more of the woman came into view he had to stop himself from gawking at her. He had not seen more than the legs of another person in quite some time, especially not a woman as beautiful as she. He eventually met her eyes and had to stop himself from falling over at the glow he saw around her. He had seen them before of course, on some of the enchanted antiques around the manor, but this was his first chance to get a good look at one on a person. It was a soft white that contrasted with her dusky skin and softened the sharp lines of her facial markings. The whole effect was such that he couldn't look away as intent as he was on trying to understand what the glow meant.

* * *

Tyrandes lips traced a small smile of achievement as she saw Ahr'ri slowly rise his head to look at her, but she was puzzled by his wide eyed stare as he finally met her eyes. He seemed to be drinking in her features, surely he had seen other Kaldorei women before? No that wasn't quite right. His eyes were tracing her outline, looking at something that surrounded her. He seemed puzzled but since he was so captivated she studied his features in return.

His face had the look that children got as they were just transitioning into their adolescence, still the round of youth, but with signs of the changes to come. What stood out most were his eyes, the fresh green of new leaves and the faint scar on his brow, in the shape of lightning.

"Will you tell me what you see?" she asked, seeking a more natural interaction than that of giving orders, and interested in his reply.

This was tough, he had never told anyone about seeing the glow before, it was one of the few secrets that he kept from his mistress, a silent rebellion that he continued just to prove to himself that he could. He had already taken one leap of faith with this Tyrande and decided that maybe she could help him understand. It was the fact that she had asked and not ordered him that pushed him though.

" You.. around you there is a glow like the moonlight through the mist over a lake. Do you know what it is?" His reply was trembling, he expected to be rebuked for not delivering some compliment to boost her ego but his look was plainly hopeful that she could help.

Unwillingly, blood rushed to her face. That sounded very much like the first overtures that others had tried to court her with in the past, before she made it clear she would only take part in such things when the goddess allowed. She saw it was unintentional though and realized a second later that he actually saw a glow around her. A form of magical perception perhaps? It was not unheard of for it to develop, though only in those that had endlessly experimented with the arcane. She understood that it was seen as something of a status symbol amongst those that dabbled in such things.

Deciding to confirm, she called up a simple light in her palm and held it out.

"Is the glow stronger around this?" she asked, hoping to keep the conversation going.

* * *

Ahr'ri saw the effect his words had on the priestess, her cheeks darkening the slightest bit but her look turning contemplative. The light she produced was soft enough that he could see her hand through it, but the glow around it was like the one that surrounded her but magnified.

"Yes! Do you know what it is?" he answered excitedly.

Hmm it seemed that there was exuberance hidden in him, it just needed to be brought out.

"You have a form of magical perception, one that manifests as sight. It is not unheard of but quite rare nonetheless. It would do you credit to nurture it and hone your ability with it." Yes this was perfect, she needed a reason to come back and helping him train his skill was a perfect. She could observe his magic and try to understand more about him and how she might encounter another of his people in the future.

"How should I practice? Do I look at things from longer distances or smaller things or..." Ahr'ri trailed off, suddenly aware of his break in character and demanding tone, looking back to his feet awaiting the punishment that always followed. When he felt no lash or smack he looked up at Tyrande, completely lost.

She was becoming more concerned by the sudden reversal of his attitude, it seemed that he had been trained and harshly to meet some impossible standard of servitude. Was there ever a time when he was allowed to drop the act and express his personality? By the way the short conversation they had, being treated as a person and a not a thing for even such a brief time, was bringing out his natural energy and enthusiasm she didn't think so.

This was more worrying the more she thought about it, a clearly alien being that they knew only sparse details of, repressed and harshly treated by people that looked down on him for being different from them, it stank of future problems.

Out of a healers instinct she lay a hand on his head and sent healing magics questing into him seeking out any injury, while she turned over an idea in her mind. Maybe she could bring him to the temple with her on occasion? Give him a space where he could be his own person and she could have greater insight to him without the tedious constraints of formality.

All of that left her when she realized that the holy magics she was pouring into him were pooling in his forehead and healing what felt like some lingering corruption from whatever had caused the distinctive scar there. It was a simple thing to cleanse, barely anything was there. She didn't miss the way he stiffened when she laid hands on him however, or the way his shoulders loosened and the moan of relief he let out when she finished.

* * *

He had ruined it. The one person that treated him like a person and he had gone a ruined it by asking her questions and presuming to demand information from her. Now surely she would punish him and continue with her purpose for seeing him, whatever it was. Perhaps she was one of the not so bad ones that wanted to see how he compared to night elves physically? Those weren't ever that bad, just showing off to them and giving some simple comments about how he couldn't possibly be as good as a proper Kaldorei.

He saw her reaching for him with a frown on her face as the glow on her hand intensified and knew that it was going to hurt whatever she was about to do. He tensed, waiting for the sharp sting of magics designed to hurt.

It didn't, it felt like cool silk rubbing against his insides, and swept through him in barely more than an instant. He felt a strange pressure from his scar though, the one that the mistress couldn't ever remove as much as she tried, acids, spells of fire and frost and even some green cursed fire seemed to make no impression on it and she took her frustration out on him sometimes on bad days.

He felt the cool magic gather near his scar, sort of twist and cover it and then something happened that he couldn't feel and it was gone. There was a release of physical tension around his eyes and face that he didn't even know was there but more than that he felt like a constant headache was suddenly gone.

He felt quite lightheaded actually and thought he might pass out. That would be good, just remember this kindness from the beautiful woman, like a lovely dream. He never saw anyone more than once after all. With that he let the blackness close in and he slumped into unconsciousness.


	3. Chapter 3

Waking up was slow, much slower than the usual curt command from one of this caretakers that demanded instant obedience. He had time to look about and enjoy what he could remember of the marvelous dream he had of the priestess that cared.

Immediately something struck him as wrong, he was most certainly not in his room back at the manor of Kay'Vathras, he had counted the lines and cracks on his ceiling enough to memorize its look and nothing he saw was familiar at all.

"Good morning!" a high pitched voice from his left said. Ahr'ri turned his head to see a woman in priestess garb moving toward his bed, a cheerful smile matching her perky demeanor.

Almost immediately he panicked and leapt out of bed to present himself for morning inspection, his eyes resolutely on his own toes, waiting for the first punishment to come. His caretakers had always been quite sharp with him in the morning. He felt the tingling under his skin that always came with his panic and hunched into himself in a futile attempt to contain it, the odd happenings around him only earned more punishments.

Taken aback by his swift motion and his tense posture, the healing attendant, Alura, slowed her steps as Ahr'ri seemed to shrink more into himself as she approached. She had been fascinated by the mention of a being that was not Kaldorei in the Temple of all places and was eager to learn more, but perhaps seeing his obvious fright she would have to tone down her usual exuberance. She had been asked by Tyrande, her mentor as she began her training as an acolyte, to bring the child to her once he had awakened.

As she slowed to a stop some few feet away from the boy she could feel a charge in the air, as if lightning were about to strike, a common feeling around those that practiced arcane magics.

Suddenly wary of an attack on her mentors guest she closed the scant distance between them and gathered him in her arms to protect him from whatever effect was materializing in the healing ward.

Ahr'ri heard the steps of the woman that had awoken him slow to a stop a short distance from him, and imagined the scrutiny that he was under at the moment, his clothes rumpled from lack of care, his bed unmade and his general unpreparedness only adding to his anxiety. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck raising in response to the strange feeling that always accompanied his distress and knew there would be no containing it this time, he would have to hope she wouldn't notice. Then she lunged at him, the sudden movement only crossing his field of vision for the instant before he felt arms around him. His panic gave way to fear and he stopped trying to contain the tingling under his skin in his effort to shy away from his captor.

They both disappeared with a thunderous crack.

* * *

After the tedious and stressful discussion she'd had with Kay'Vathras last night, Tyrande felt the need to unwind and set her thoughts to order regarding the new information that she'd come upon. Rising with the sun as she had since beginning her training with the priestesses, she sought out her own place of quiet contemplation, a rarely used moonwell on temple grounds.

As she knelt in meditation she considered what she had learned from her encounter with the young boy last night. There was no immediate connection between him and the female in her vision other than their shared species, but he was the only thing that she could even remotely recognize from her vision. She would have to keep him close, the Moon Goddess wouldn't have send her that vision featuring one of his people at the same time he was present for no reason after all.

Perhaps more enlightening was what she had learned of his upbringing in her discussion with the most parasitic and opportunistic woman she'd ever had the displeasure of exchanging words with. Kay'Vathras was representative of all of the worst vices and excesses attributed to the Highborne, an unrepentant feeling of superiority to those seen as beneath them, a general disdain for anything but increasing their own social status or furthering their knowledge of the arcane and an ego that struggled to fit in the room they occupied.

 **The Previous Evening**

"I do hope that little Ahr'ri was no trouble, he certainly knows better than to protest the demands of my guests." Kay'Vathras simpered, seeing Tyrande approach the lounge where she was entertaining her guests, fellow Highborne of course.

"No, he was no trouble, although his reticence in speaking was a touch frustrating." Tyrande replied leadingly, hoping to get some kind of read on the woman.

"Oh is that so? Well then he certainly has come a long way in learning his place as one who listens but is not heard hasn't he. His training hasn't yet reached the point where I feel confident with him speaking to guests without oversight. Perhaps some extra lessons are in order... Regardless is there anything that the humble house of Kay'Vathras can provide you tonight Honored Priestess?" Her yellow eyes seemed to glow with glee at calling attention to the status of her guest, no doubt to impress her present company.

Disturbed by the enthusiasm with which the Highborne spoke of the harsh treatment and submission that was forced upon Ahr'ri, Tyrande had to stop a look of revulsion from appearing on her face.

"Have there been any developments with his innate powers? Is he even able to wield them yet?" Tyrande asked curiously, it was apparent to everyone that the child had some kind of power but none yet had witnessed or heard anything concrete about it.

"No he hasn't expressed any kind of power yet, but I eagerly await the time that he can assist me in my research of the arcane." Kay'Vathras' tone left no doubt to what role Ahr'ri would play in that research, lab rat. The twisted smile of avarice on her face belied how much she would enjoy plumbing the depths of his power.

Unable to maintain the facade of one politely interested, a frown crossed Tyrandes face and she knew it was time to make her excuses lest she tip her hand and give the Highborne any reason to keep Ahr'ri from her.

"I would like to request that he accompany me back to the temple, I feel there is much use he could be in the ongoing healing studies of the Priestesses. Perhaps there is something that could be worked out on a more permanent basis if studying him has any value? The Temple would of course be properly thankful with your cooperation." Tyrande let that last statement dangle as she watched the Highborne carefully for her reaction.

"Yes that sounds perfectly reasonable for the evening at least, some more permanent arrangement may be possible, but who know what the future holds?" Kay'Vathras looked gleeful at having something that the priestesshood was interested in studying long term and no doubt planned to parlay that into some perceived gain in status.

"In that case I will simply collect him and not tax your hospitality any longer" Tyrande replied eager to remove herself from the hostile surroundings.

 **Back to the Present**

There was no longer any doubt that Ahr'ri had been raised thus far as a disposable research assistant, one whose usefulness would eventually expire. The only value that he had to Kay'Vathras was in exploiting whatever gifts he had to her benefit. The fact that his hostess hadn't learned about his magic sensing was a blessing. She really needed to speak to some of her colleagues about that and how it could be hidden or maybe better controlled.

That was all secondary though, as Tyrande was ultimately an empathetic being and couldn't stand to watch someone in pain without interceding. The first step to achieving all of her goals was the removal Ahr'ri from the house of Kay'Vathras.

Perhaps… that thought was cut off by a loud whip-crack and the sound of something large and heavy plunging into the moonwell. Startled, Tyrande opened her eyes to see a very soggy Alura and a panicked Ahr'ri moving away from both of them.


End file.
